Hull FC owner Andrew Thirkill has spoken out about the state the club was in when he took over a year ago.
Thirkill and David Hood completed their takeover of the Black and Whites in December 2024, with the pair arriving after what had been one of the most miserable seasons in living memory in west Hull.
Hull won just three Super League games all year in 2024 with their financial struggles off the field leading to difficulties on it. However, the sheer scale of their struggles off the field is hard to fathom, with debts spiralling to the point where the club was on the brink.
And, speaking at a fans’ forum on Wednesday evening, the FC owner spoke about the issues he inherited with the Stadium Management Company, the organisation that runs the MKM Stadium, and their kit supplier being just some of those left unpaid.
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Thirkill also outlined his belief that the club was in effect a Championship outfit playing in the Super League and he has spent the last 13 months striving to rectify that and push Hull back towards the upper echelons of the table.
Last season was more than a success then, finishing seventh in the Super League table, and Thirkill has revealed that Hull are entering the 2026 season with a full salary cap to give themselves the best chance of breaking into that play-off picture.
“The club is a lot bigger than I thought actually,” Thirkill said, addressing those Hull FC fans in attendance at the University of Hull. “The fans are fabulous, they’ve been so supportive and I called it a family, it’s a big family.
“When I arrived on his stage last year (November 2024), we hadn’t bought the club at that point, so I was still a little bit in the dark. I know a lot about it now and it’s true to say the club was in a bigger situation than David and I ever envisaged but we’ve dealt with it all. I’m proud of that.
“We’ve paid everybody off, no messing around, everything has been dealt with and sorted out. The SMC, Castore, the kit providers, they hadn’t been paid for a long time, all that’s been dealt with and the club is back on an even keel. All that goes on behind the scenes and the important thing is to get the playing personnel improved and that never stops.
“We’ve got the full salary cap in place for 2026 which is remarkable, I’m proud of that. We’ve given Hull FC every chance of competing at the highest level.
“Last year, when I look back, we were really a Championship team that was playing in Super League. We had to restructure the club on a playing personnel side from within Super League itself.
“There was a time I thought we might get relegated but we were still comfortable to do the transaction because Hull is such a huge brand with all that history, being in the Championship for a year, we’d have dealt with it and come back. That was never going to stop us doing us doing what we were doing – I don’t think we were even a top Championship side in fairness but we’ll never know because we never went there.
“But we had to rebuild from within to become a Super League club and to come seventh last year, I can’t think John and his coaching team enough.”
